These Chains That Bind Us
by Ratt9
Summary: Many problems arise when you handcuff together a sugar-crazy detective and a mass murderer with a god complex. Can be seen as friendship or slash. Chapter 2: Sleep.
1. Shirtless

I've been reading a lot of the very first few Death Note fanfics ever on Fanfiction. I've come to the conclusion that all of the older fics sorta have this whole different style to them (I'm not quite sure how else to explain it), and I've come to the conclusion that the older fics (from like 2006 and 2007 and such) are completely epic. And somehow a lot different than a lot of the DN fanfics you currently find on Fanfiction. Not saying that in a good or bad way—they're just different. So, I decided to try to try to use that style that I found in the old fics, and write a story about L and Light being handcuffed together. Light has always struck me as a bit of a clean freak, so I decided to make that be the topic of the initial chapter. I _am_ still working on The Contest of Deep Dark Secrets. ^ ^; –w- I'll update that soon. Anyway, enjoy! I'm curious as to what you all think of this attempt. 

It had only been a few hours since L had handcuffed Raito to himself, and Raito had an issue that was pressing on his mind. After a while, he decided to voice his problem.

"Ryuzaki." The metal handcuff clinked uncomfortably against the desk. He still had to get used to that...

"Yes, Raito-kun?" L didn't look up from his work.

"You are a brilliant detective..."

"Flattery? If Raito-kun believes that he is going to succeed in having me surrender my cake to him by using flattery, he is sadly mistaken. It is strawberry shortcake. Thus, it is amazing."

"Ahh—that's not it," Raito started. He tugged a bit on his shirt. "I wasn't trying to flatter you…and I don't want your cake. It's just—"

"Does Raito-kun have something against strawberry shortcake? Is it perhaps not godly enough for him? If that is the case, I would like to put it out there that this strawberry shortcake has a taste that makes it worthy of being labeled as _divine_."

L stared at the younger man intently, looking out for any sign at all—any _microexpression_—that could further indicate that he was guilty of being Kira. He saw none, but he also knew that Raito Yagami was a very talented actor.

"I'm not Kira," Raito grumbled. "And I don't really like cake. I don't really like sweet things at all, for that matter."

_Well, that explains your personality…_

"Anyway, what I was getting at was…I pride myself in having good hygiene…and…"

…_and you, obviously, don't._ Raito wanted to add, but restrained himself.

(coughcleanfreakcough)

L quirked his head to the side, waiting for Raito to get to the point. "I believe that Raito-kun should stop being dramatic and just say whatever it is he wishes to say." He bit his thumb thoughtfully.

"The thing is…how are we going to change clothes? Obviously, the handcuffs would not allow for us to change shirts…" Raito spat out, having decided that he had already spent too long getting to the point as it was.

"The solution is quite simple, really," L said, now bored by where their conversation was going.

"Oh?"

L took a bite out of his cake. "We _won't_ change our shirts until Kira is caught."

Raito stared at the older man with a skeptical expression plastered onto his perfect face. "Surely you are joking, Ryuzaki," he chuckled weakly. "I mean, you can't mean that." Light had always been more or less OCD about sanitation-or perhaps he just had a fear of dirtiness. Whatever it was, being clean was a principle for him, as well as a bit of a pride thing. The thought of his coworkers thinking of him as a smelly suspect who never changed his clothes mortified him.

Ryuzaki was definitely joking, Raito knew. It would take months—perhaps even years—to find and catch Kira, especially since they weren't getting anywhere fast with L so convinced that the killer in question shared his identity with the teen the detective had chained himself to, mere hours ago. Certainly, L would not be okay with going that long without a clean set of clothing. Not to mention a _shower_. No, not even Ryuzaki would do something _that _absurd.

…Right?

Raito felt panic slowly rising in his chest as he considered the possibility that L perhaps had some insane, sick phobia of cleanliness. Or that L was perhaps such an extreme workaholic that he really _didn't _care whether or not he walked around in the same bland attire for months on end.

The more Raito thought about it, the more frightened he became.

Perhaps Ryuzaki never changed his clothes to begin with? Maybe he was such a recluse that he had forgotten that changing one's clothing every day was a regular—not to mention _widely accepted_—aspect of societal structure. Maybe he'd never changed his clothes before in his life. Maybe he was some sort of extremist.

Raito's mind was intruded by the unwanted image of a 6-year-old version of L; the very garments of which he currently clothed himself were draped over the boy. The clothing would have been much too large, of course, but Raito could just picture Watari handing the young child what would later become his signature white shirt and jeans and saying, "These shall be your new clothes. I know they are about 5 sizes too large, but you'll grow into them. No need to take them off, either. Don't worry about whether or not you are disgustingly dirty, for you are brilliant, and don't needn't worry about such things when you have the world to worry about," whilst smiling.

_No_, Raito assured himself. _I need to focus. Watari is reasonable. L couldn't have been wearing the same clothes for 24 years. I have nothing to worry about._

All that thought had only taken about 5 seconds, and L had yet to respond. Raito waited for a few more seconds for L to say something, but the detective appeared to be in deep thought, staring at his computer screen.

"Uh, Ryuzaki…" Raito spoke up, feeling a bit awkward now. "You _are_ joking, right?"

L didn't even look up from his work when he replied in monotone, "No, Raito-kun. I'm completely serious. I do not joke around."

Panic rose inside Raito even further, but his mind was still wasn't fully believing what L was telling him. He would rather _die _than have to wear the same shirt for such an extended period of time. He might even start to smell like L! Raito internally gagged at the mere notion.

"But…Ryuzaki, that's absurd." Raito tried to force the older man to think logically about this.

L tilted his head to the side again and looked the teen in the eye. "Surely a man of Raito-kun's intelligence is capable of capturing Kira, even while he is wearing a crusty shirt."

_Crusty? ! Did L just use the word crusty to describe the condition of my shirt? !_

Raito was beginning to feel ever so slightly nauseous.

Doing his best to appear calm, Raito attempted to reason with him. "I have standards, Ryuzaki. I'm sorry, but I refuse to accept that answer."

"Then admit you are Kira," L deadpanned.

Raito released a long, drawn-out groan. "But I'm _not _Kira. I'm just a guy who knows the meaning of the word 'hygiene.'"

"But Raito-kun, I _do _know the meaning of the word 'hygiene,'" L protested, sounding slightly distracted, as he was splitting his focus between the conversation and the data on the computer screen.

Raito was a bit fed up with L's uncaringness towards this obviously massive moral issue. "Yeah, sure." Raito glowered at him.

"Raito-kun's attitude has raised my suspicions of him by about 2 percent. Though, in order to prove Raito-kun wrong, I will have him know that I _do_ understand the meaning of the word 'hygiene.' It is a condition or practice conducive to the preservation of health, as cleanliness."

Raito rolled his eyes. "You said you didn't joke." For some reason, he felt much calmer than he had just minutes before. He didn't think it was a good thing. Perhaps it was a symptom of one of the early stages of a stress-induced nervous breakdown. He almost hoped so, at this point. Maybe if he lost his marbles, L would have enough sense to send him to a hospital. And people were always provided with clean clothes at hospitals.

Raito wondered if he was being just a _bit _too obsessive about this whole dilemma.

"That was not a joke, Raito-kun. I assure you, that truly is the definition of hygiene. Dictionary dot com said so." L chewed a thumbnail.

Now, Raito was becoming desperate. He grabbed the detective by the shoulders and shook him. L, eyes wide, appeared alarmed at their sudden closeness and flinched under the younger man's touch. "Please, Ryuzaki. You don't honestly plan on not changing clothes for the remainder of the case. That's just…repulsive."

L considered this for a moment. "Indeed it is," he muttered, biting his thumb. "I'm infinitely relieved that we both have come to a mutual agreement on at least one personal matter."

"Huh? What?" Raito blinked.

"Because Raito-kun tried so desperately to get his own way, his Kira percentage has been raised by 4 percent," L said matter-of-factly. "Raito is now up to 28 percent."

"…"

"Raito-kun is staring at me."

"Yes. Yes he is." It took all Raito's willpower to not grind his teeth in intense irritation.

"May I inquire as to what the reason?"

"I merely wish to clarify. You will remove the handcuffs in order for us to change our clothes and put on new ones. Am I correct in making this statement?"

"…no." L's mouth formed a little O shape.

Raito's eye twitched. "Then what is your ingenious plan?"

"Quite simply, we will remove our garments by cutting them off of our bodies using a large pair of scissors."

"…Your jokes are slightly unnerving, Ryuzaki."

L cocked his head to the side. "As I already informed Raito-kun earlier, I do not joke around."

"..."

L appeared to be thoughtful for a moment. "However..." he started, "I do lie. Tell me, Raito-kun...am I lying?"

_This was going to be a long case..._

I feel like this was totally pointless, and plotless, and boring. –w- I'm not very happy with it. It was longer than I thought it would be, and it wasn't very funny. Even after I went back and changed a bunch of things, it didn't improve. o.e But, it was fun to write, and I'm most likely going to continue this with other problems/situations that could possibly present themselves to two people who are handcuffed to each other. Does anyone have any specific situations that they would like to see? Please tell me what you think. –w- Please? Click the shiny review button. O 3o 

**1147-175591-6550. This is now my lucky number. This code helped me counterhack a random hacker from Germany who was trying to crash my entire computer system earlier today remotely. Woot. Random, unnecessary pieces of info ftw. :D**

**Anyway, thanks for reading. ^ ^**

**~Ratt Kazamata**

**6/16/2011**


	2. Sleep

Meep, somehow this ended up turning into fluff. xD That was not my intention. 

Anyway, enjoy!

It was 1:49 in the morning, and it had been approximately sixteen hours since L had bound himself and Raito together with handcuffs.

L was still typing away at his computer, raising his two index fingers high above the keyboard as he did so. He was showing no signs of stopping for the night.

Raito was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. Obviously, as any normal person, he wanted to sleep—his regular bedtime had passed almost 3 hours ago—but he also didn't want to seem less capable of staying awake and working than the detective.

He masked his uneasiness and continued working in silence. The jingle of the chain startled him every once in a while, as if he had forgotten they were there. It wasn't that, really; Raito was all too aware of the constant unfamiliar feel of the metal colliding with his wrist; a constant accusation. He knew he would no doubt end up with at least some sort of irritated rash on the part of his arm on which the cuff rested atop.

It was more that he was so focused on what the chain implied that the actual material object was forgotten at times.

Fifteen minutes passed.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Twenty.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Twenty-five.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Raito was becoming ever so slightly irritated. Why did L type like that? _Why_?

Raito wondered if he should say something about it. Not that he honestly cared, of course, but a conversation could perhaps ascend into L deciding it best to sleep.

_I seriously doubt that._

Oh well, it was worth a shot, right?

"Ryuzaki, why do you type like that? Isn't it slower than the normal method?"

L didn't show any sign that he had heard him, though Raito knew he had. It would be impossible not to have heard him. The volume at which he spoke had broken the silence's maximum noise limit.

_Tap, tap, tap._

"I type like this for the reason that it allows for less typing errors than the orthodox typing method," L replied after a while. "Why does Raito-kun wish to know? Does he have a problem with it? If that is the case, I apologize." He chewed his lip.

_I bet he does it just to see how people will react to it, to feed his own amusement._

Well, that plan failed.

Several minutes passed, and finally Raito decided to throw away his pride in exchange for some sleep. He was exhausted.

"Ryuzaki, would it be alright if we continued this in the morning? I'm really tired."

L looked at him thoughtfully, as if considering this. "Alright," he agreed after a few moments.

_Wait, what? So easily? Surely there's a catch._

"O-okay." He stood up, waiting for L to do the same. The older man made no such action.

_I seriously hope that there isn't a catch._

"Please wait for a second; I first just need to put my laptop in its case," L muttered, taking a laptop case out of the drawer. He shut the screen and slid the laptop into it. Raito wondered how he managed to pick up the laptop with just two fingers and still maneuver it so expertly.

_There...really is no catch?_

"Alright, let's go." L stood up. However, instead of leaving the laptop case at the desk, he tucked it under his arm and began walking in the direction of the rooms.

_Ah, there it was._

Once inside the room, Raito lay down on the bed while L crouched on it. They were only a few feet apart.

L removed the laptop from its case and turned it on. He set it on the bed in front of him. Looking at it, he cocked his head with his thumb in his mouth. Raito heard him mumble something that sounded like, "Too low."

_Ignore him. Just ignore him. Just go to sleep. Pretend he's not there. Just go to sleep…_

Without warning, Raito felt a large, rectangular-shaped object on his back.

Alarmed, he rolled a bit onto his side and moved his head so that he was looking behind him. "What the hell…?"

L had placed his laptop on Raito's back. L looked at him with large, innocent eyes. "I apologize—am I bothering Raito-kun? I merely wished to use his back to elevate my laptop. He shouldn't notice it once he is asleep. Shall I wait for him to lose consciousness before repeating the action?"

_Now I'm being used as a desk?_

Suddenly, Raito began to feel very frightened at the thought of what _else _L might do to him while he slept. Terrifying images of waking up with no hair, cake frosting smeared all over his hands, and no clothes filled his mind. He shivered.

Trying to keep his temper in check and the fear out of his voice, Raito answered, "No, Ryuzaki, I'd rather you not do anything to me while I'm asleep. I'm sure you understand."

_I'm not sure you do._

"Oh, of course. I will respect Raito-kun's wishes," L assured, biting his thumb nail. He lifted his laptop off Raito's back, and back on the bed it went.

_Tap, tap, tap._

Raito suppressed a groan. Did Ryuzaki _always _have to be so annoying? He should seriously look into getting one of those computers with keys that make almost no noise regardless of how hard they are pressed.

About ten minutes later, Raito was still awake, due to L's incessant clacking of the keyboard.

Suddenly, the typing ceased, and L did what was most likely the most unnerving thing that Raito had ever witnessed.

L whispered quietly into the silence, "Is Raito-kun asleep yet?"

"No, Ryuzaki," Raito said, face in his pillow.

"Oh, just checking."

_Oh. My. God. What does he plan on _doing _to me once I _am _asleep? !_

_Tap, tap, tap_.

Ten minutes passed, and L whispered the same question once more.

"_Yes_, Ryuzaki," came the teen's irritated reply.

"Oh, alright."

Another ten minutes later, the same thing happened again. As a test, Raito didn't reply to the question. A few seconds later, Raito felt L put the laptop back on top of his back. He then continued pounding away at the keys.

Raito swiftly sat up, causing the laptop to fall back onto the bed and snap shut. "What the _hell_, Ryuzaki!"

L stared at him, thumb in his mouth. "I apologize. I assumed you were asleep." L reached for his laptop once again.

"No!" Raito surprised himself with the forcefulness of his own voice.

L looked up at him blankly, hand suspended in mid-reach.

"Enough with the laptop! Just go to sleep!"

L put both hands on his knees. "I cannot sleep, Raito-kun."

Raito was incredibly irritated. He clenched and unclenched his fists. "I don't care what you do, as long as it doesn't involve moving, or making noise!" He stuffed the pillow over his ears.

He slept dreamlessly for all of twenty minutes, before L shook him awake.

"Raito-kun…" L whispered loudly a few times, leaning over him.

Raito sleepily looked up, glaring daggers at the detective.

_What can you possibly WANT, you impossible human being? !_

L sat up a bit straighter, so he was no longer so close to the teen's face. "I require sweets."

"…"

"Raito-kun must come with me to the kitchen, for he and I are handcuffed together," L informed.

Raito continued to just stare at him blankly. L, taking it to mean that the younger man didn't understand, explained further by pointing at the handcuff around his wrist. "Here, you see. We're connected at the wrist."

"…It is almost four in the morning."

"Indeed," L said, nodding.

"And you woke me up because you want a piece of _cake_."

L nodded.

Raito considered telling the detective to go to hell, but didn't want to raise his Kira percentage. "…If I go with you to the kitchen, will you promise to leave me alone for the rest of the night?"

L nodded.

"Fine." Raito stood up, and L hopped off the bed. The two made their way down the dark hallway to the elevator. L pressed the down arrow.

Inside the elevator, Raito asked, "Don't you have Watari to do stuff like this _for_ you?"

L shook his head. "No, Watari is currently asleep."

_What, and I _wasn't_?_

The elevator doors opened and the two men exited. Raito moved his hand across the kitchen wall, searching with his fingers for the light switch. As he walked, he felt his legs bump into something warm.

"WHOA!" he exclaimed, jumping back in surprise.

There was a loud bang, and something sprayed all over the two men's feet. L located the light switch and flicked it on.

Standing in the kitchen was none other than Touta Matsuda, with a very guilty expression on his face. There was a blown up can of whipped cream on the floor, with its contents sprayed all around the kitchen.

Matsuda laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Late midnight snack, eh?"

* * *

><p>Back in the room, Raito lay in the bed while L ate his cake. L had left Matsuda to clean up the whipped cream—punishment for wasting such a valuable substance.<p>

Even once L had finished his cake, Raito had not managed to fall asleep.

Suddenly, the pressure on the bed shifted, and Raito realized that L was lying down. He was almost positive he was doing it out of boredom.

Turning on his side, facing his back toward the older man, Raito sighed lightly and wondered if he was going to get any sleep at all that night.

Some time later, Raito felt something warm leaning against him.

_What…?_

He turned his head. He blinked when he saw L's face only a few inches from his own. Upon closer examination, the Kira suspect realized that L was, in fact, asleep.

The detective nuzzled his head into the crook of Raito's neck, breath warm against the teen's skin. His curled-up legs were pressed against Raito's back. L snored softly.

"Ryuzaki?" he whispered.

No response.

_Great. Now even the insomniac on a sugar rush is getting more sleep than I am tonight._

However, Raito made no attempt to move the older man, in case it would wake him up. And anyway, he looked like he could really use some sleep, if the dark circles under his eyes were any indication.

_This is actually sorta comfortable…_

Unfortunately, by the time Raito finally began to drift off to sleep that morning, it was time to get up and get to work.

See what I mean? Fluff was not planned. xD 

Hey! Tell me what you think of this chapter! Review! Please! :D

Also, I _am _working on updating other stuff, too.

Thanks for reading! ^ ^

-Ratt Kazamata

6/18/2011


End file.
